Profit or Purpose? You Decide
Are business owners greedy?
The world has this strange idea that business owners endure the “blood, sweat and tears” of starting and running a business to make lots of money. It is no secret that successful businesses are profitable but the key question remains: How did they get there? And, what keeps them in the fight day after day? I would suggest that those business owners focused on profits are not likely to survive very long and one thing is sure, they are less likely to make a difference in the world. So what drives us?
Ask Josh McAff, a former law enforcement officer and loss-prevention executive now CEO of McAff Institute. Josh says, “Growing up, I always had a passion for law enforcement. I wanted to get out there and fight crime, get the bad guys—you know, help people. That’s why I became a law enforcement officer right out of college. To be able to do this kind of work in my business is everything to me. It’s what I was born to do.”
Meg Cadoux Hirshberg, wife of entrepreneur Gary Hirshberg co-founder of Stonyfield Farm says, “Maybe I’m biased, but I think company-building lives are more dramatic than the lives of the more conventionally employed”.
Here is another example; Kevin Knight CEO of Knight Solutions speaks of his passion this way: “I came to see the poor conditions of our military cemeteries when I went to the funeral of my brother-in-law, who was a Vietnam vet. It became my calling to turn those resting places around so that families can have a pleasant experience visiting their loved ones.”
The engine that drives the business
A successful business needs a driver and an engine. The driver of course is the CEO or owner and passion is the engine the behind the scenes that prompts the owner to stay focused and on course. The highs are really high and the lows are really low from this helm and getting up each day hitting the ground again and again takes a higher purpose.
Phil Dumontet started Dashed, a Boston-based food-delivery service with nothing more than two wheels and a plastic food container. “Before graduation, I’d signed a contract to work for AT&T in sales”, he explains. “The recruiter wasn’t happy. She said, ‘You want to start your own business, when AT&T has been around for over 100 years?’ and I’m like, absolutely!”
Changing the Landscape
At Edoc Service, we are driven to change the landscape of business through innovative services and authenticity. It has little to do with the money and much more about upsetting the status quo. We may not yet be in the Inc. 500 as the others quoted here but we have achieved the Cincinnati Fast 55 last year and are on our way.
Alexander Gomez had always aspired to be a doctor motivated by watching his grandfather physician serving the underprivileged in Cuba and Puerto Rico. While working and saving for medical school, he invented a device that keeps laparoscopic camera lenses from fogging. He says this, “I may not be a doctor like my grandfather, but success is not about letters at the end of my name. It’s about making a contribution to people’s care and I feel blessed to have done that.”
The world may think of us business owners as greedy little ninjas but the results say otherwise. Our joy comes not from getting rich but rather making an impact.
Before he was an entrepreneur, Neil Grimmer was an artist, designer, and father. Today, the co founder of Plum Organics draws on his passion and experience to bring healthy food to kids and land on the list of America’s fastest growing companies.
Want to make money and be relevant? Make a difference.
